CASVA Curates

It was, then, noteworthy that last year three out of seven predoctoral fellows in residence at CASVA embarked on challenging careers in museums. Ashley Dimmig (PhD, University of Michigan, 2019) left CASVA to take up the Wieler-Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellowship in Islamic art at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. As the only Islamic expert on the staff, she is working on the reconceptualization of the Islamic collections in conjunction with the curator of Asian art. Dimmig finds herself applying the theoretical knowledge gained over the years to a reinstallation that must have an impact both within and beyond Baltimore. She was encouraged in her plans for a curatorial career at Michigan and was also able to participate in the CCL seminar in 2018 during her CASVA Ittleson fellowship. Maryan Ainsworth (curator, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Kress-Beinecke Professor at CASVA) supported her interests, and those of others in the group. As Ashley Dimmig puts it, Ainsworth “facilitated our exposure to various facets of a museum career that are often excluded from graduate studies. While there are some aspects of curatorial work that can only be learned on the job, building interdisciplinary and inter-institutional relationships has been critical; even after leaving CASVA I feel supported by a network of people to whom I know I can turn for advice or guidance.”

Maryan Ainsworth’s guidance was especially welcome to Michele Frederick (PhD, University of Delaware, 2019), the Samuel H. Kress Predoctoral Fellow, whose field, like Ainsworth’s, is northern European art. Like Ashley Dimmig, Frederick took every opportunity to pursue a museum career and joined the curatorial track at Delaware. Her Kress fellowship provided for a year of research in Europe as well as a curatorial component during residence. As Frederick puts it, “as a seventeenth-century Dutch/Flemish specialist, I couldn’t ask for a better collection, staff, or environment than the National Gallery. Being able to assist the members of the northern baroque paintings department was an honor. Furthermore, that opportunity helped to reignite my passion for museum work at the very moment when I was entering the job market.” As the associate curator of European art at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, Michele Frederick oversees the collection of European paintings and sculpture from 1550 to 1900. This museum, like many others, is seeking to challenge traditional boundaries by exhibiting together works from different parts of the collection. Frederick has already paired Anthony van Dyck with Amy Sherald and juxtaposed a market scene by Frans Snyders with a towering glass assemblage by contemporary artist Beth Lipman. The supportive network she developed at CASVA has helped with this, as have the conversations about the importance of crossover between curatorial work and teaching.

The challenges faced by Annika Johnson (PhD, University of Pittsburgh, 2019) are very different. On completing her Wyeth fellowship she was appointed associate curator of Native American art at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha. Much of the collection has not been exhibited or researched for decades, and even key works remain to be identified. As the first full-time curator in this field at the Joslyn, Johnson is concentrating on “building partnerships with Native communities in this region and beyond to understand and develop programming around our collection.” With support from the Mellon Foundation, and informed by her conversations with Native artists, elders, and cultural experts, her research will lead to a reinstallation of the museum’s collection of Native American art.

Annika Johnson wanted to be a curator from an early moment and was grateful that Pittsburgh’s department supported her in this ambition. Curatorial studies were woven into her dissertation, which examined the history of Dakota art making as well as the history of the tribe’s representation in public exhibitions. Her commitment was nourished at the National Gallery through the field trips and conversations orchestrated by Maryan Ainsworth, as well as the regular CASVA shoptalks, colloquia, lectures, and visits to the collection. “Arriving at the National Gallery every morning,” she reflects, “was most inspiring! The quality of National Gallery exhibitions has set a standard in my eyes. And to be in DC and take in the depth and variety of so many exhibitions helped shape my own curatorial vision.”